445 nm laser diodes UK/Europe

salvee · Post by **salvee** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:00 pm

Most of us not living on Mars will have heard about these lasers. I'm thinking of buying a projector to harvest the diode lasers and would like to get a feel for the numbers that i'd be able to sell to the UK and Europe. Price will be around £55 (~70 Euros). Please PM me (including your location ) if you'd be interested.

a_k · Post by **a_k** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:51 pm

That's a lot you are asking Salvee. Those LD's go for around half that price.

$40 is a more realistic number.

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:27 am

Yes think twice about this as the prices have been dropping weekly and these guys (on the holography fourm),are not interested yet, untill they see them make a hologram ............

142laser · Post by **142laser** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:50 pm

I plan to test on ewith a scanning interferometer sometime soon but also the beam is not TEM 00 even if by some miricle it is SLM. Sure beam optics may help make it look more uniform buit a beam profiler would tell the truth. Even if SLM some points may on the hologram be over or under exposed as the beam is not uniphase. Having said all this I am paying to have a laser built to play with.

If it tests SLM I will probably sell it here ready to use; I just want to play with one for awhile. Phil 142laser

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:53 pm

these diodes are running SLM and show coherents! I have a test prototype unit up and running unit and will be testing it for holography later this week............ so stay tuned!

i have included a picture showing the stable fringes i got with at with laser set @250ma (35mw output).........

142laser · Post by **142laser** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 12:20 am

Hi Dave,
The fringe contrast looks good in the picture; what is the path length difference? Phil 142laser

Colin Kaminski · Post by **Colin Kaminski** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:05 pm

That looks to be a single beam. I hope not...

142laser · Post by **142laser** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:10 pm

I am hoping the shot is the output of a Michelson type interferometer setup. The fringe contrast looks good but hey you can do that with an Argon Ion laser if the path length difference is close to 0 meters. What is the path length difference in the photo Dave? Did you try to move one mirror to see if there was a limit to the coherence length?

Joe Farina · Post by **Joe Farina** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:59 pm

It's nice to see those fringes. As Dave suggests, the next step would be to try some holograms.

If you have a reliable blue laser in the 442 to 488nm range, DCG holography is pathetically easy, far simpler than using silver.